Obituary: Caryl Morse Kline / Former special ambassador to Sierra Leone
Caryl Morse Kline, a longtime Pittsburgh resident whose interest in politics and education led to a career that included serving as the state's secretary of education and as a special U.S. ambassador to Sierra Leone, died Saturday at Presbyterian Senior Care of Oakmont of complications from a stroke. She was 87.
Mrs. Kline could count among her friends and supporters President John F. Kennedy, Gov. Milton J. Shapp of Pennsylvania, tribal chiefs in Sierra Leone and scores of students and educators across the commonwealth and New York state.
She was closer still to former Oregon Sen. Wayne Morse, a political maverick who at various times during his 21-year Senate career was registered as a Republican, Independent and Democrat. He was her brother.
Both had their political appetites whetted early in their native Wisconsin by their parents and a frequent guest, Robert "Fightin' Bob" La Follette, the state's populist governor and senator.
At the Morse home during the first quarter of the 20th century, La Follette expounded on his ideas of fighting monied interests, including the regulation of railroads and other industries. Wayne Morse and his younger sister both called La Follette their political mentor.
Mrs. Kline campaigned for her brother during his first Senate campaign, in 1944 and remained one of the few people whose advice he sought.
Morse is remembered for being one of only two senators to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which authorized President Lyndon Johnson to "take all necessary measures" against North Vietnam. His biography does not say whether he sought his sister's advice before that 1964 vote.
Mrs. Kline spent the first five years of her life on the family's 320-acre livestock and dairy farm near Verona, Wis. She was the youngest of five children; her next youngest sibling was Wayne, who was 14 years older. In 1919, the family moved to Madison, where Mrs. Kline earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin.
She made a name for herself at the school, not only by winning the Edna Kernwoods Glicksman prize (and the $50 that went with it) "in recognition of intellectual attainments, high womanhood and service in the college," but also by being captain of the women's tennis team, president of her class and leading the university's students on strike over freedom of speech.
In 1939, while she was in the midst of her doctoral program in American history at the school, Mrs. Kline and her new husband, Hibberd, moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked for the Library of Congress. For the next seven years, while her husband was posted in London during World War II, she supported herself through various jobs, including helping her brother during his first term in Congress.
The family moved to upstate New York in 1946 to enable her husband to teach geography at Syracuse University. When he earned a one-year Fulbright scholarship in 1953-1954 to the British colony of Sierra Leone in west Africa, the entire family went.
Mrs. Kline made her first foray into politics while living in Syracuse. A liberal Democrat, she lost badly in a race for the town council in 1956. But two years later, she took on a conservative Republican for a congressional seat in a district that hadn't voted Democratic since 1858. Although John F. Kennedy, then a Massachusetts senator, made a campaign stop in her behalf, she lost a close -- and disputed -- election.
"She wasn't disillusioned," said her younger son, Wayne, of Portland, OR. "She knew what she was getting into when she got into it."
The family moved to Bradford Woods in 1958. Three years later, President Kennedy asked Mrs. Kline to be his special ambassador to the independence celebrations in Sierra Leone.
Both Mrs. Kline and her husband made their impact on the University of Pittsburgh, he as dean of the School of Geography, she as an assistant to then-Chancellor Edward Litchfield.
According to a 1994 article in Pitt Magazine, Mrs. Kline told Litchfield "that there needed to be something done to give women an opportunity to find real places in his economic society." She was instrumental in a program that encouraged women who had dropped out of college to continue their education.
"There was really a lot of radical Republican in her," her son said. "She really did believe in equality of races and sexes, and she was opposed to class distinctions. She was a radical right to the end."
She was an original member of the Board of State Colleges and University Directors. In April 1977, Shapp appointed her the state's secretary of education, a post she held until Gov. Dick Thornburgh, a Republican, replaced her in 1979.
Mrs. Kline was a member of several boards, including Allegheny General Hospital and the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. In 1966, she earned a Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania Award in recognition of her accomplishments.
Her husband died in 1988. Mrs. Kline suffered a stroke in April. Since then, she had been hospitalized in various facilities.
In addition to her son Wayne, she is survived by her son, Hibberd V.B. Kline III of Kansas City, MO and four grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at a date to be determined. Interment will be in Madison, WI.
Tuesday, January 22, 2002
By Steve Levin, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prominent Madison Couple Marry Saturday in the
First Congregational Church; Date Marks the
48th Wedding Anniversary of Bride's Parents
By MYRTLE HENSHUF
FROM AMONG THE HEIRLOOMS of the family mother, a quaint old fashioned ring was brought out the other day to be polished to its original luster for young and lovely bride. Saturday afternoon, Miss Caryl Elizabeth Morse slipped it onto her finger the finishes touch to her bridal ensemble, A short time later, another ring, a wedding circlet, was slipped onto her left hand by her bridegroom, Hubbard Van Buren Kline, Jr., with whom she exchanged the vows of marriage at the First Congregational church at 4 o clock, Saturday, the same day on which her parents were married 48 years ago in the Baptist church.
The quaint old ring, the "something old," was given by the brides great grandfather, Addison White, one of the first settlers in Dane County, to her mother, Jessie White, at the age of 10 years.
The bride, whose parents have died, walked down the aisle on the arm of her brother, Harry A. Morse, Madison, to the altar which was decorated with candelabra, white candles, palms and baskets of white and purple gladioli and before which Rev. E. O. Kennedy read the ceremony.
Sentiment will further colored the wedding, because the handkerchief which the bride carried was brought by her mother several years ago from Mexico especially for the event, and her gown was copied in outline from her mother's bridal gown.
It was made of heavy faille, made with a full gored skirt which swept into a long train. The fitted bodice was trimmed with pearl buttons which formed a row from the point of the Basque waist up to the high neckline which was outlined with pleated white faille; and the quaint leg-o-mutton sleeves ended in points over the hands. Her long veil of white tulle fell from a small old fashioned tulle hat trimmed with pleated rushing; and she carried a small compact old-fashioned bouquet of gardenias and lilies of the valley.
Two attendants stood beside the bride at the altar. Mrs. Gordon Gail Murphy, Norman, Okla., as matron of honor, and Miss Josephine Walter as maid of honor wore taffeta gowns which matched the bride's gown in style except for a few details. The full skirts came just to the floor, the sleeves were short and puffed, and the necklines were cut low. Both voting women wore small turbans to match and each carried a bouquet of gladioli and old-fashioned flowers. Because Mrs. Murphy's gown was of a deep purple, her flowers were of purple and lavender to match with deep purple ribbons; and Miss Walker, whose gown was of fuchsia, carried flowers of a shade to blend, tied with fuchsia ribbons
The gowns of the two bridesmaids, who were Miss Dorothy Jane Ekern, Madison, and Mrs. Bernard C. Reese, Milwaukee, were of an orchid shade and were identical in style to those of the principal attendants and the bouquets they carried also matched. Their turbans too were of the same shade as their gowns.
John Weaver, Madison, was Mr. Kline's best man and the ushers were Bernard C. Reese, Robert Metzger, both of Milwaukee; James Barnes, Eau Claire, David Grover Fry, Kenneth Orchard, Madison and. Allen F. Jorgensen, Akron, Ohio. James Vaughan at the organ played the Mendelssohn bridal march; and, before the ceremony presented a short recital of familiar bridal music. Miss Joyce Hildebrandt, Jefferson, a college roommate of the bride sang "O Radiant our."
The bride was graduated from the University of Wisconsin where she became a member of Chi Omega, Zeta Phi Eeta, Delta Sigma Rho, Phi Kappa Phi Mortar board and was the recipient o£ the Edna Kerngood Glicksman award given annually to the most outstanding senior woman. Miss Morse was president of her graduating class at the university in 1936, the first woman to hold that position. She is now a student at the university and an assistant in the speech department.
Mr. Kline received his B. A. degree in 1936 from Syracuse University and his M. A. in 1938 from the University of Wisconsin. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and Kappa Sigma. He is now graduate assistant in the geography department at the University of Wisconsin.
MADISON, W1S., SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 1939
Caryl Morse Kline, a longtime Pittsburgh resident whose interest in politics and education led to a career that included serving as the state's secretary of education and as a special U.S. ambassador to Sierra Leone, died Saturday at Presbyterian Senior Care of Oakmont of complications from a stroke. She was 87.
Mrs. Kline could count among her friends and supporters President John F. Kennedy, Gov. Milton J. Shapp of Pennsylvania, tribal chiefs in Sierra Leone and scores of students and educators across the commonwealth and New York state.
She was closer still to former Oregon Sen. Wayne Morse, a political maverick who at various times during his 21-year Senate career was registered as a Republican, Independent and Democrat. He was her brother.
Both had their political appetites whetted early in their native Wisconsin by their parents and a frequent guest, Robert "Fightin' Bob" La Follette, the state's populist governor and senator.
At the Morse home during the first quarter of the 20th century, La Follette expounded on his ideas of fighting monied interests, including the regulation of railroads and other industries. Wayne Morse and his younger sister both called La Follette their political mentor.
Mrs. Kline campaigned for her brother during his first Senate campaign, in 1944 and remained one of the few people whose advice he sought.
Morse is remembered for being one of only two senators to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which authorized President Lyndon Johnson to "take all necessary measures" against North Vietnam. His biography does not say whether he sought his sister's advice before that 1964 vote.
Mrs. Kline spent the first five years of her life on the family's 320-acre livestock and dairy farm near Verona, Wis. She was the youngest of five children; her next youngest sibling was Wayne, who was 14 years older. In 1919, the family moved to Madison, where Mrs. Kline earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin.
She made a name for herself at the school, not only by winning the Edna Kernwoods Glicksman prize (and the $50 that went with it) "in recognition of intellectual attainments, high womanhood and service in the college," but also by being captain of the women's tennis team, president of her class and leading the university's students on strike over freedom of speech.
In 1939, while she was in the midst of her doctoral program in American history at the school, Mrs. Kline and her new husband, Hibberd, moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked for the Library of Congress. For the next seven years, while her husband was posted in London during World War II, she supported herself through various jobs, including helping her brother during his first term in Congress.
The family moved to upstate New York in 1946 to enable her husband to teach geography at Syracuse University. When he earned a one-year Fulbright scholarship in 1953-1954 to the British colony of Sierra Leone in west Africa, the entire family went.
Mrs. Kline made her first foray into politics while living in Syracuse. A liberal Democrat, she lost badly in a race for the town council in 1956. But two years later, she took on a conservative Republican for a congressional seat in a district that hadn't voted Democratic since 1858. Although John F. Kennedy, then a Massachusetts senator, made a campaign stop in her behalf, she lost a close -- and disputed -- election.
"She wasn't disillusioned," said her younger son, Wayne, of Portland, OR. "She knew what she was getting into when she got into it."
The family moved to Bradford Woods in 1958. Three years later, President Kennedy asked Mrs. Kline to be his special ambassador to the independence celebrations in Sierra Leone.
Both Mrs. Kline and her husband made their impact on the University of Pittsburgh, he as dean of the School of Geography, she as an assistant to then-Chancellor Edward Litchfield.
According to a 1994 article in Pitt Magazine, Mrs. Kline told Litchfield "that there needed to be something done to give women an opportunity to find real places in his economic society." She was instrumental in a program that encouraged women who had dropped out of college to continue their education.
"There was really a lot of radical Republican in her," her son said. "She really did believe in equality of races and sexes, and she was opposed to class distinctions. She was a radical right to the end."
She was an original member of the Board of State Colleges and University Directors. In April 1977, Shapp appointed her the state's secretary of education, a post she held until Gov. Dick Thornburgh, a Republican, replaced her in 1979.
Mrs. Kline was a member of several boards, including Allegheny General Hospital and the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. In 1966, she earned a Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania Award in recognition of her accomplishments.
Her husband died in 1988. Mrs. Kline suffered a stroke in April. Since then, she had been hospitalized in various facilities.
In addition to her son Wayne, she is survived by her son, Hibberd V.B. Kline III of Kansas City, MO and four grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at a date to be determined. Interment will be in Madison, WI.
Tuesday, January 22, 2002
By Steve Levin, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prominent Madison Couple Marry Saturday in the
First Congregational Church; Date Marks the
48th Wedding Anniversary of Bride's Parents
By MYRTLE HENSHUF
FROM AMONG THE HEIRLOOMS of the family mother, a quaint old fashioned ring was brought out the other day to be polished to its original luster for young and lovely bride. Saturday afternoon, Miss Caryl Elizabeth Morse slipped it onto her finger the finishes touch to her bridal ensemble, A short time later, another ring, a wedding circlet, was slipped onto her left hand by her bridegroom, Hubbard Van Buren Kline, Jr., with whom she exchanged the vows of marriage at the First Congregational church at 4 o clock, Saturday, the same day on which her parents were married 48 years ago in the Baptist church.
The quaint old ring, the "something old," was given by the brides great grandfather, Addison White, one of the first settlers in Dane County, to her mother, Jessie White, at the age of 10 years.
The bride, whose parents have died, walked down the aisle on the arm of her brother, Harry A. Morse, Madison, to the altar which was decorated with candelabra, white candles, palms and baskets of white and purple gladioli and before which Rev. E. O. Kennedy read the ceremony.
Sentiment will further colored the wedding, because the handkerchief which the bride carried was brought by her mother several years ago from Mexico especially for the event, and her gown was copied in outline from her mother's bridal gown.
It was made of heavy faille, made with a full gored skirt which swept into a long train. The fitted bodice was trimmed with pearl buttons which formed a row from the point of the Basque waist up to the high neckline which was outlined with pleated white faille; and the quaint leg-o-mutton sleeves ended in points over the hands. Her long veil of white tulle fell from a small old fashioned tulle hat trimmed with pleated rushing; and she carried a small compact old-fashioned bouquet of gardenias and lilies of the valley.
Two attendants stood beside the bride at the altar. Mrs. Gordon Gail Murphy, Norman, Okla., as matron of honor, and Miss Josephine Walter as maid of honor wore taffeta gowns which matched the bride's gown in style except for a few details. The full skirts came just to the floor, the sleeves were short and puffed, and the necklines were cut low. Both voting women wore small turbans to match and each carried a bouquet of gladioli and old-fashioned flowers. Because Mrs. Murphy's gown was of a deep purple, her flowers were of purple and lavender to match with deep purple ribbons; and Miss Walker, whose gown was of fuchsia, carried flowers of a shade to blend, tied with fuchsia ribbons
The gowns of the two bridesmaids, who were Miss Dorothy Jane Ekern, Madison, and Mrs. Bernard C. Reese, Milwaukee, were of an orchid shade and were identical in style to those of the principal attendants and the bouquets they carried also matched. Their turbans too were of the same shade as their gowns.
John Weaver, Madison, was Mr. Kline's best man and the ushers were Bernard C. Reese, Robert Metzger, both of Milwaukee; James Barnes, Eau Claire, David Grover Fry, Kenneth Orchard, Madison and. Allen F. Jorgensen, Akron, Ohio. James Vaughan at the organ played the Mendelssohn bridal march; and, before the ceremony presented a short recital of familiar bridal music. Miss Joyce Hildebrandt, Jefferson, a college roommate of the bride sang "O Radiant our."
The bride was graduated from the University of Wisconsin where she became a member of Chi Omega, Zeta Phi Eeta, Delta Sigma Rho, Phi Kappa Phi Mortar board and was the recipient o£ the Edna Kerngood Glicksman award given annually to the most outstanding senior woman. Miss Morse was president of her graduating class at the university in 1936, the first woman to hold that position. She is now a student at the university and an assistant in the speech department.
Mr. Kline received his B. A. degree in 1936 from Syracuse University and his M. A. in 1938 from the University of Wisconsin. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and Kappa Sigma. He is now graduate assistant in the geography department at the University of Wisconsin.
MADISON, W1S., SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 1939
Obituary: Caryl Morse Kline / Former special ambassador to Sierra Leone
Caryl Morse Kline, a longtime Pittsburgh resident whose interest in politics and education led to a career that included serving as the state's secretary of education and as a special U.S. ambassador to Sierra Leone, died Saturday at Presbyterian Senior Care of Oakmont of complications from a stroke. She was 87.
Mrs. Kline could count among her friends and supporters President John F. Kennedy, Gov. Milton J. Shapp of Pennsylvania, tribal chiefs in Sierra Leone and scores of students and educators across the commonwealth and New York state.
She was closer still to former Oregon Sen. Wayne Morse, a political maverick who at various times during his 21-year Senate career was registered as a Republican, Independent and Democrat. He was her brother.
Both had their political appetites whetted early in their native Wisconsin by their parents and a frequent guest, Robert "Fightin' Bob" La Follette, the state's populist governor and senator.
At the Morse home during the first quarter of the 20th century, La Follette expounded on his ideas of fighting monied interests, including the regulation of railroads and other industries. Wayne Morse and his younger sister both called La Follette their political mentor.
Mrs. Kline campaigned for her brother during his first Senate campaign, in 1944 and remained one of the few people whose advice he sought.
Morse is remembered for being one of only two senators to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which authorized President Lyndon Johnson to "take all necessary measures" against North Vietnam. His biography does not say whether he sought his sister's advice before that 1964 vote.
Mrs. Kline spent the first five years of her life on the family's 320-acre livestock and dairy farm near Verona, Wis. She was the youngest of five children; her next youngest sibling was Wayne, who was 14 years older. In 1919, the family moved to Madison, where Mrs. Kline earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin.
She made a name for herself at the school, not only by winning the Edna Kernwoods Glicksman prize (and the $50 that went with it) "in recognition of intellectual attainments, high womanhood and service in the college," but also by being captain of the women's tennis team, president of her class and leading the university's students on strike over freedom of speech.
In 1939, while she was in the midst of her doctoral program in American history at the school, Mrs. Kline and her new husband, Hibberd, moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked for the Library of Congress. For the next seven years, while her husband was posted in London during World War II, she supported herself through various jobs, including helping her brother during his first term in Congress.
The family moved to upstate New York in 1946 to enable her husband to teach geography at Syracuse University. When he earned a one-year Fulbright scholarship in 1953-1954 to the British colony of Sierra Leone in west Africa, the entire family went.
Mrs. Kline made her first foray into politics while living in Syracuse. A liberal Democrat, she lost badly in a race for the town council in 1956. But two years later, she took on a conservative Republican for a congressional seat in a district that hadn't voted Democratic since 1858. Although John F. Kennedy, then a Massachusetts senator, made a campaign stop in her behalf, she lost a close -- and disputed -- election.
"She wasn't disillusioned," said her younger son, Wayne, of Portland, OR. "She knew what she was getting into when she got into it."
The family moved to Bradford Woods in 1958. Three years later, President Kennedy asked Mrs. Kline to be his special ambassador to the independence celebrations in Sierra Leone.
Both Mrs. Kline and her husband made their impact on the University of Pittsburgh, he as dean of the School of Geography, she as an assistant to then-Chancellor Edward Litchfield.
According to a 1994 article in Pitt Magazine, Mrs. Kline told Litchfield "that there needed to be something done to give women an opportunity to find real places in his economic society." She was instrumental in a program that encouraged women who had dropped out of college to continue their education.
"There was really a lot of radical Republican in her," her son said. "She really did believe in equality of races and sexes, and she was opposed to class distinctions. She was a radical right to the end."
She was an original member of the Board of State Colleges and University Directors. In April 1977, Shapp appointed her the state's secretary of education, a post she held until Gov. Dick Thornburgh, a Republican, replaced her in 1979.
Mrs. Kline was a member of several boards, including Allegheny General Hospital and the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. In 1966, she earned a Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania Award in recognition of her accomplishments.
Her husband died in 1988. Mrs. Kline suffered a stroke in April. Since then, she had been hospitalized in various facilities.
In addition to her son Wayne, she is survived by her son, Hibberd V.B. Kline III of Kansas City, MO and four grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at a date to be determined. Interment will be in Madison, WI.
Tuesday, January 22, 2002
By Steve Levin, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prominent Madison Couple Marry Saturday in the
First Congregational Church; Date Marks the
48th Wedding Anniversary of Bride's Parents
By MYRTLE HENSHUF
FROM AMONG THE HEIRLOOMS of the family mother, a quaint old fashioned ring was brought out the other day to be polished to its original luster for young and lovely bride. Saturday afternoon, Miss Caryl Elizabeth Morse slipped it onto her finger the finishes touch to her bridal ensemble, A short time later, another ring, a wedding circlet, was slipped onto her left hand by her bridegroom, Hubbard Van Buren Kline, Jr., with whom she exchanged the vows of marriage at the First Congregational church at 4 o clock, Saturday, the same day on which her parents were married 48 years ago in the Baptist church.
The quaint old ring, the "something old," was given by the brides great grandfather, Addison White, one of the first settlers in Dane County, to her mother, Jessie White, at the age of 10 years.
The bride, whose parents have died, walked down the aisle on the arm of her brother, Harry A. Morse, Madison, to the altar which was decorated with candelabra, white candles, palms and baskets of white and purple gladioli and before which Rev. E. O. Kennedy read the ceremony.
Sentiment will further colored the wedding, because the handkerchief which the bride carried was brought by her mother several years ago from Mexico especially for the event, and her gown was copied in outline from her mother's bridal gown.
It was made of heavy faille, made with a full gored skirt which swept into a long train. The fitted bodice was trimmed with pearl buttons which formed a row from the point of the Basque waist up to the high neckline which was outlined with pleated white faille; and the quaint leg-o-mutton sleeves ended in points over the hands. Her long veil of white tulle fell from a small old fashioned tulle hat trimmed with pleated rushing; and she carried a small compact old-fashioned bouquet of gardenias and lilies of the valley.
Two attendants stood beside the bride at the altar. Mrs. Gordon Gail Murphy, Norman, Okla., as matron of honor, and Miss Josephine Walter as maid of honor wore taffeta gowns which matched the bride's gown in style except for a few details. The full skirts came just to the floor, the sleeves were short and puffed, and the necklines were cut low. Both voting women wore small turbans to match and each carried a bouquet of gladioli and old-fashioned flowers. Because Mrs. Murphy's gown was of a deep purple, her flowers were of purple and lavender to match with deep purple ribbons; and Miss Walker, whose gown was of fuchsia, carried flowers of a shade to blend, tied with fuchsia ribbons
The gowns of the two bridesmaids, who were Miss Dorothy Jane Ekern, Madison, and Mrs. Bernard C. Reese, Milwaukee, were of an orchid shade and were identical in style to those of the principal attendants and the bouquets they carried also matched. Their turbans too were of the same shade as their gowns.
John Weaver, Madison, was Mr. Kline's best man and the ushers were Bernard C. Reese, Robert Metzger, both of Milwaukee; James Barnes, Eau Claire, David Grover Fry, Kenneth Orchard, Madison and. Allen F. Jorgensen, Akron, Ohio. James Vaughan at the organ played the Mendelssohn bridal march; and, before the ceremony presented a short recital of familiar bridal music. Miss Joyce Hildebrandt, Jefferson, a college roommate of the bride sang "O Radiant our."
The bride was graduated from the University of Wisconsin where she became a member of Chi Omega, Zeta Phi Eeta, Delta Sigma Rho, Phi Kappa Phi Mortar board and was the recipient o£ the Edna Kerngood Glicksman award given annually to the most outstanding senior woman. Miss Morse was president of her graduating class at the university in 1936, the first woman to hold that position. She is now a student at the university and an assistant in the speech department.
Mr. Kline received his B. A. degree in 1936 from Syracuse University and his M. A. in 1938 from the University of Wisconsin. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and Kappa Sigma. He is now graduate assistant in the geography department at the University of Wisconsin.
MADISON, W1S., SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 1939
Caryl Morse Kline, a longtime Pittsburgh resident whose interest in politics and education led to a career that included serving as the state's secretary of education and as a special U.S. ambassador to Sierra Leone, died Saturday at Presbyterian Senior Care of Oakmont of complications from a stroke. She was 87.
Mrs. Kline could count among her friends and supporters President John F. Kennedy, Gov. Milton J. Shapp of Pennsylvania, tribal chiefs in Sierra Leone and scores of students and educators across the commonwealth and New York state.
She was closer still to former Oregon Sen. Wayne Morse, a political maverick who at various times during his 21-year Senate career was registered as a Republican, Independent and Democrat. He was her brother.
Both had their political appetites whetted early in their native Wisconsin by their parents and a frequent guest, Robert "Fightin' Bob" La Follette, the state's populist governor and senator.
At the Morse home during the first quarter of the 20th century, La Follette expounded on his ideas of fighting monied interests, including the regulation of railroads and other industries. Wayne Morse and his younger sister both called La Follette their political mentor.
Mrs. Kline campaigned for her brother during his first Senate campaign, in 1944 and remained one of the few people whose advice he sought.
Morse is remembered for being one of only two senators to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which authorized President Lyndon Johnson to "take all necessary measures" against North Vietnam. His biography does not say whether he sought his sister's advice before that 1964 vote.
Mrs. Kline spent the first five years of her life on the family's 320-acre livestock and dairy farm near Verona, Wis. She was the youngest of five children; her next youngest sibling was Wayne, who was 14 years older. In 1919, the family moved to Madison, where Mrs. Kline earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin.
She made a name for herself at the school, not only by winning the Edna Kernwoods Glicksman prize (and the $50 that went with it) "in recognition of intellectual attainments, high womanhood and service in the college," but also by being captain of the women's tennis team, president of her class and leading the university's students on strike over freedom of speech.
In 1939, while she was in the midst of her doctoral program in American history at the school, Mrs. Kline and her new husband, Hibberd, moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked for the Library of Congress. For the next seven years, while her husband was posted in London during World War II, she supported herself through various jobs, including helping her brother during his first term in Congress.
The family moved to upstate New York in 1946 to enable her husband to teach geography at Syracuse University. When he earned a one-year Fulbright scholarship in 1953-1954 to the British colony of Sierra Leone in west Africa, the entire family went.
Mrs. Kline made her first foray into politics while living in Syracuse. A liberal Democrat, she lost badly in a race for the town council in 1956. But two years later, she took on a conservative Republican for a congressional seat in a district that hadn't voted Democratic since 1858. Although John F. Kennedy, then a Massachusetts senator, made a campaign stop in her behalf, she lost a close -- and disputed -- election.
"She wasn't disillusioned," said her younger son, Wayne, of Portland, OR. "She knew what she was getting into when she got into it."
The family moved to Bradford Woods in 1958. Three years later, President Kennedy asked Mrs. Kline to be his special ambassador to the independence celebrations in Sierra Leone.
Both Mrs. Kline and her husband made their impact on the University of Pittsburgh, he as dean of the School of Geography, she as an assistant to then-Chancellor Edward Litchfield.
According to a 1994 article in Pitt Magazine, Mrs. Kline told Litchfield "that there needed to be something done to give women an opportunity to find real places in his economic society." She was instrumental in a program that encouraged women who had dropped out of college to continue their education.
"There was really a lot of radical Republican in her," her son said. "She really did believe in equality of races and sexes, and she was opposed to class distinctions. She was a radical right to the end."
She was an original member of the Board of State Colleges and University Directors. In April 1977, Shapp appointed her the state's secretary of education, a post she held until Gov. Dick Thornburgh, a Republican, replaced her in 1979.
Mrs. Kline was a member of several boards, including Allegheny General Hospital and the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. In 1966, she earned a Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania Award in recognition of her accomplishments.
Her husband died in 1988. Mrs. Kline suffered a stroke in April. Since then, she had been hospitalized in various facilities.
In addition to her son Wayne, she is survived by her son, Hibberd V.B. Kline III of Kansas City, MO and four grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at a date to be determined. Interment will be in Madison, WI.
Tuesday, January 22, 2002
By Steve Levin, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prominent Madison Couple Marry Saturday in the
First Congregational Church; Date Marks the
48th Wedding Anniversary of Bride's Parents
By MYRTLE HENSHUF
FROM AMONG THE HEIRLOOMS of the family mother, a quaint old fashioned ring was brought out the other day to be polished to its original luster for young and lovely bride. Saturday afternoon, Miss Caryl Elizabeth Morse slipped it onto her finger the finishes touch to her bridal ensemble, A short time later, another ring, a wedding circlet, was slipped onto her left hand by her bridegroom, Hubbard Van Buren Kline, Jr., with whom she exchanged the vows of marriage at the First Congregational church at 4 o clock, Saturday, the same day on which her parents were married 48 years ago in the Baptist church.
The quaint old ring, the "something old," was given by the brides great grandfather, Addison White, one of the first settlers in Dane County, to her mother, Jessie White, at the age of 10 years.
The bride, whose parents have died, walked down the aisle on the arm of her brother, Harry A. Morse, Madison, to the altar which was decorated with candelabra, white candles, palms and baskets of white and purple gladioli and before which Rev. E. O. Kennedy read the ceremony.
Sentiment will further colored the wedding, because the handkerchief which the bride carried was brought by her mother several years ago from Mexico especially for the event, and her gown was copied in outline from her mother's bridal gown.
It was made of heavy faille, made with a full gored skirt which swept into a long train. The fitted bodice was trimmed with pearl buttons which formed a row from the point of the Basque waist up to the high neckline which was outlined with pleated white faille; and the quaint leg-o-mutton sleeves ended in points over the hands. Her long veil of white tulle fell from a small old fashioned tulle hat trimmed with pleated rushing; and she carried a small compact old-fashioned bouquet of gardenias and lilies of the valley.
Two attendants stood beside the bride at the altar. Mrs. Gordon Gail Murphy, Norman, Okla., as matron of honor, and Miss Josephine Walter as maid of honor wore taffeta gowns which matched the bride's gown in style except for a few details. The full skirts came just to the floor, the sleeves were short and puffed, and the necklines were cut low. Both voting women wore small turbans to match and each carried a bouquet of gladioli and old-fashioned flowers. Because Mrs. Murphy's gown was of a deep purple, her flowers were of purple and lavender to match with deep purple ribbons; and Miss Walker, whose gown was of fuchsia, carried flowers of a shade to blend, tied with fuchsia ribbons
The gowns of the two bridesmaids, who were Miss Dorothy Jane Ekern, Madison, and Mrs. Bernard C. Reese, Milwaukee, were of an orchid shade and were identical in style to those of the principal attendants and the bouquets they carried also matched. Their turbans too were of the same shade as their gowns.
John Weaver, Madison, was Mr. Kline's best man and the ushers were Bernard C. Reese, Robert Metzger, both of Milwaukee; James Barnes, Eau Claire, David Grover Fry, Kenneth Orchard, Madison and. Allen F. Jorgensen, Akron, Ohio. James Vaughan at the organ played the Mendelssohn bridal march; and, before the ceremony presented a short recital of familiar bridal music. Miss Joyce Hildebrandt, Jefferson, a college roommate of the bride sang "O Radiant our."
The bride was graduated from the University of Wisconsin where she became a member of Chi Omega, Zeta Phi Eeta, Delta Sigma Rho, Phi Kappa Phi Mortar board and was the recipient o£ the Edna Kerngood Glicksman award given annually to the most outstanding senior woman. Miss Morse was president of her graduating class at the university in 1936, the first woman to hold that position. She is now a student at the university and an assistant in the speech department.
Mr. Kline received his B. A. degree in 1936 from Syracuse University and his M. A. in 1938 from the University of Wisconsin. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and Kappa Sigma. He is now graduate assistant in the geography department at the University of Wisconsin.
MADISON, W1S., SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 1939
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